I used Rockford as an alternate airport for Chicago Midway. Rockford, IL is about 100 miles (90 Minutes) west of Chicago's Midway Airport. It's the second largest city in Illinois. The airport is located south of Rockford (Map: http://www.flyrfd.com/Internal.aspx?id=8 ) on Illinois Highway 2. Here are two airport websites for your use: http://www.flyrfd.com/ and http://www.ifly.com/greater-rockford-airport . You can rent cars at the terminal from Hertz, Avis, National, Alamo, and Enterprise. If you don't want to rent a car, the Rockford Mass Transit District offers hourly service to and from RFD into Rockford, Monday through Saturday. The bus stop is located directly in front of the terminal, at the east end of the service drive. Passengers take the South Main Bus #7 to the RMTD Transfer Center on West State Street. Then switch to the East State Bus #11 and get off at the Greyhound/Clock Tower stop. Website for Greyhound: http://www.greyhound.com/en/locations/terminal.aspx?city=561198 . For details regarding schedules and routes, visit the RMTD website at www.rmtd.org. Currently, there is no mass transit service from Rockford to Chicago. As for things to do in Rockford? Head to Chicago! Here's some information about Rockford: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockford,_Illinois and its history. We found two great places to eat. The best is the Carlyle Brewing Company down by the Rock River where they have good beer and a great thin crust pizza (Website: http://www.carlylebrewing.com/ ). The second establishment is actually a chain, but the Granite City Brewing Company has a solid Bleu Peppercorn Burger paired with Wags American Wheat (Website: http://www.gcfb.net/ ).
Enjoy Rockford and whereever your travels take you!
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Rockford Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Rockford
Illinois Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Illinois
Northern Illinois Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Northern_Illinois
Steve Summers - June 2012:
I used Rockford as an alternate airport for Chicago Midway. Rockford, IL is about 100 miles (90 Minutes) west of Chicago's Midway Airport. It's the second largest city in Illinois. The airport is located south of Rockford (Map: http://www.flyrfd.com/Internal.aspx?id=8 ) on Illinois Highway 2. Here are two airport websites for your use: http://www.flyrfd.com/ and http://www.ifly.com/greater-rockford-airport . You can rent cars at the terminal from Hertz, Avis, National, Alamo, and Enterprise. If you don't want to rent a car, the Rockford Mass Transit District offers hourly service to and from RFD into Rockford, Monday through Saturday. The bus stop is located directly in front of the terminal, at the east end of the service drive. Passengers take the South Main Bus #7 to the RMTD Transfer Center on West State Street. Then switch to the East State Bus #11 and get off at the Greyhound/Clock Tower stop. Website for Greyhound:
http://www.greyhound.com/en/locations/terminal.aspx?city=561198 . For details regarding schedules and routes, visit the RMTD website at www.rmtd.org. Currently, there is no mass transit service from Rockford to Chicago. As for things to do in Rockford? Head to Chicago! Here's some information about Rockford: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockford,_Illinois and its history. We found two great places to eat. The best is the Carlyle Brewing Company down by the Rock River where they have good beer and a great thin crust pizza (Website: http://www.carlylebrewing.com/ ). The second establishment is actually a chain, but the Granite City Brewing Company has a solid Bleu Peppercorn Burger paired with Wags American Wheat (Website: http://www.gcfb.net/ ).
Enjoy Rockford and whereever your travels take you!